Trust

Self-Interest and the Common Good

Marek Kohn

Trust, or the lack of it, is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in public life: with relationships and technology moving faster, and with frequent political scandals and health scares

This short, yet broad-ranging and thought-provoking book examines what makes trust possible, what helps it grow, and why we are especially concerned about it in a fast-moving, fast-changing, globalized society

Looks at the evolutionary origins of trust, and the puzzle of how language could have evolved when 'words are cheap', and we have such a capacity to deceive each other

Explores many different perspectives from the fields of science, sociology, economics, and politics, to draw out the wider implications for trust in human society today.

Argues that trust is a crucial part of an increasingly essential and interesting conversation about happiness, community, equality and respect

Trust

Self-Interest and the Common Good

Marek Kohn

Description

Trust--whether between parents and children, merchants and shoppers, banks and investors, or citizens and their government--lies at the very heart of our relationships, our society, and our everyday lives. This vividly written compact book reveals how modern thinkers--scientists, social scientists, and philosophers--have shed much light on the nature of trust. Beginning with some fascinating evolutionary puzzles about the origins of trust--for instance, how cooperation can evolve among individuals pursuing their own selfish interests--Marek Kohn incorporates many different perspectives from the fields of science, sociology, economics, and politics, to draw out the wider implications of trust in human society today. The book discusses trust in gods and
how people have sought to reinvest this trust as religious faith has diminished; the effect of low social trust on economic development; and the loss of trust between mutually antagonistic communities, each warming itself by the flames of its hostility to the other. He shows how Communism relied on distrust, and devoted much of its energy to seeding it among its subjects, and Liberal democracy is also based on distrust, but in the opposite direction: it is founded upon the suspicion that the powerful will be tempted to abuse their power, and so must be subject to checks and balances. Perhaps most important, he shows that if we understand what makes trust possible, and why it matters, then we will live better lives in a fast-moving, fast-changing, global society.

Trust

Self-Interest and the Common Good

Marek Kohn

Table of Contents

Preface1. Just Going Round to the Shop2. Trust from the Barrel of a Gun3. Reason to Believe4. In God We Trust5. Through Thick and Thin6. The Goodwill of the People7. Leaving the Door UnlockedNotesFurther ReadingBibliography

Trust

Self-Interest and the Common Good

Marek Kohn

Author Information

Marek Kohn is Visiting Research Fellow, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex and Honorary Faculty Fellow, School of Arts and Architecture, University of Brighton.